One young fisher in particular said he had been fishing since he was 3, and his mom said she can't wait until the

gun ended the kids tournament so she could put her line in.

At 9 a.m., the gun fired and the tournament began.

Now, for most of the kids; this was the first time they fished in a tourney so the parents stood by and cast out

for some of the more novice kids.

Five-year-old Kylea Moriarty, who goes to Lincoln Elementary was asked what she thought about the.

event. "It's good," said Kylea.

The BFA and other organizations stocked the canal with catfish; and the bites came to the child's lines pretty

quickly and fre­quently.

When someone had a fish reeled in, they brought it to the judges' table and the fish was measured and that

length was put beside the number of the fisherman.

After the' judges were done, the child had the option to bring home six fish if they chose to cook them, otherwise they could leave the fish and the volunteers were going to have a fish fry.

Toward the end, many of the fishermen weren't get­ting any bites with the exception of a few.

A veteran who was at the event last year struck at the end.

"Toward .the end I caught an 18-fnch catfish," said Roosevelt student and Peru resident Madison Mallie.

When asked if she would be back next year she said, "Yes."

At 11 a.m., the gun fired and the contest was over.

.

While the judges tabulated the winners, the BFA started reading off numbers and the kids received

door prizes, which included tack­le boxes, fishing poles and other fish related items.

The prizes were donated by the sponsors of the tournament.

Barry Welbers has been a volunteer with the BFA for more then l0 years. "It was a great turn out.

It was very successful, and we are pleased we had nice weather for the morning," said Welbers.      .

When the tabulation was done, the winners were announced. Officials gave out rods and reels,

tackle boxes and three huge trophies.

The trophy for the biggest catfish ages 4-12 by a boy went to Drake Carrico, who caught a 23 1/4-inch catfish.

Rosa Gutierez brought in a 22-inch fish to take the trophy for the 4-12 girls, and for the 13 and over,

Mason Lee nabbed a 18 5/8-inch catfish to take the trophy home.

All in all, there were about 500 kids who came out Saturday, and they got to fish, get a door prize, eat a hot dog

and chips, get soda or water and it was all free.

Jeff Holman can be reached at 815-223-3200, ext. 139, or at  sports@new­strib.com